К созданию и интерпретации "Мудрости древних чехов" Р. Якобсона и полемика в чехословацкой эмиграции во время Второй мировой войны

Author(s): Tomáš Hermann,Miloš Zelenka / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1/2015

The paper examines the origin and interpretation of the forgotten monograph Moudrost starých Čechů [Wisdom of the Old Czechs], written by Roman Jakobson, the renowned structuralist and member of the Prague Linguistic Circle, in American exile in 1943. Obviously intent on highlighting the importance of Church Slavonic literature for West Slavic nations, Jakobson goes beyond structuralist discourse and through his anti-German attitude contributes to the debate on the sense of Czech history within Slavonic/non-Slavonic Central Europe, i.e. in the geopolitical area between the East and the West. With no less attention does the paper track down the dissenting response Jakobson's work received from the Czechoslovak expatriate community in the USA.

SVŮJ I CIZÍ JÁCHYM TOPOL

Author(s): Ivo Říha / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2015

The article offers a picture of how the reflection of Jáchym Topol´s work developed during the last twenty years. Ivo Říha focuses on the Czech literary and linguistic discourse while taking into account essays written by foreign authors, as well. He proceeds chronologically from the first half of the 1990s (the beginning of Topol´s career as a novelist) to the present. He tries to reflect various fundamental aspects that are explored by Czech and foreign bohemists. In a comparison of Czech and foreign reception of Topol´s works, the author concludes (inter alia) that if there is any visible difference between domestic and foreign professional reception of Topol´s works, then it lies in the fact that foreign literary scholars and linguists are much more considering the author's work as a whole – and / or they are trying to view it in a geographically broader context. On this count Ivo Říha emphasizes the importance of the text by Katharina Raabe „Když se zvedla mlha“ (When the fog lifted) – as well as other texts. Ivo Riha based the preparation of this study on his own work on the book Open Wounds. Selected Studies on Jáchym Topol´s Work (Torst, Praha 2013).

K PROMĚNÁM POHLEDU NA LATINSKOU BOHEMIKÁLNÍ LITERATURU OBDOBÍ HUMANISMU V 19. A 20. STOLETÍ

Author(s): Jana Kolářová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2015

The paper gives an outline of the most important views of Bohemian Latin-written humanistic literature, held by the Czech literary history from the late nineteenth century up to the present. By referring to the works of Jaroslav Vlček, Jan Jakubec, Arne Novák, Josef Hrabák or Zdeňka Tichá, the author wants to demonstrate the recently much discussed fact that the critical views of the Czech-written humanistic literature has been, for many years, heavily influenced by stereotypes. These mainly concern the highlighting of the key role of Viktorin Kornel of Všehrdy as the founder of the Czech branch of Bohemian humanistic literature and a pioneer of national efforts – an image based on his foreword to his translation of John Chrysostom’s „The Restitution of a Sinner” („De reparatione lapsi hominis”), which has been considered as „a manifesto of national humanism”. This has largely determined the concept of Bohemian Latin-written humanism, petrified by literary historians, as a second-class literature, which was largely self-included, not understandable to broader audiences, and not serving national interests. In a recent issue of „Česká literatura” magazine, this concept of Latin literature was criticised by the Bohemicist Fernández Couceiro, who stressed a need to reconsider some of the established “myths” about national humanism. The present study supports Couceiro’s claims, demonstrating how deep-rooted these stereotypical views have been in Czech literary history. The author focuses on the appreciation of Latin-written literature, against which, according to the quoted literary-historical studies, national humanism stood in opposition.

Ostro sledované vlaky v Slovenskom komornom divadle Martin

Author(s): Dagmar Inštitorisová / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 46/2014

This article is concerned with intertextual relations amongst Hrabal’s novel Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely Watched Trains, 1965), the screenplay made from it, and the version for the stage. Intertextual analysis is applied to a stage production of Closely Watched Trains, which was directed by Peter Gábor at the Slovenské komorné divadlo (Slovak Chamber Theatre), Martin, in 2003. The article also offers interpretation based on the intertextual approach to the stage play, and provides examples of typical intertextual relations.

Kolář – Whitman

Author(s): Iva Málková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 46/2014

This essay, in the form of a collage, pays tribute to the artist Jiří Kolář (1914–2002) and clarifies the special role of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855) in the context of Kolář’s own works and in Czech poetry of the 1950s. It provides room for the views, for example, of Jan Grossman (1925–1993), Josef Čapek (1887–1945), and Emanuel Frynta (1923–1975), to explain the unique nature of Kolář as aman and his creative and intellectual potential, which ‘destined’ him to translate Leaves of Grass. It looks back at the inspiration of Whitman’s verse and opinions, and its translation into Czech by JaroslavVrchlický (1853–1912), Emanuel z Lešehradu (1877–1955), and Pavel Eisner (1889–1958), and its meaning in the history of Czech poetry from the late nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth.

František Hrubín – básník v knihovně

Author(s): Renata Ferklová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 46/2014

This article is based mainly on source material from the papers of František Hrubín (1910–1971), Jan Thon (1886–1973), and other figures associated with literature, which are deposited in the holdings of the Museum of Czech Literature. It seeks to chart out Hrubín’s work in the Prague Public Library, his typical working day, and his relations with colleagues there, not only in the 1930s and first half of the 1940s, but also when he was a professional writer. The essay seeks to demonstrate, on the one hand, how his colleagues took his work seriously and, on the other, how they appreciated him as a cheerful and friendly person. It describes the social atmosphere of the second decade of the First Republic, the difficulties of life under German occupation in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and, briefly, the dramatic situations before and after the Communist Party took power in February 1948. The articles seeks to answer the question of what aspects of working in the library contributed to the poet’s creativity, and it seeks to explain his reasons for giving up the vocation of librarian. It also briefly considers the importance of the Prague Public Library in the poet’s personal life. His marriage, in 1939, to Jarmila Holá, a librarian-colleague, was strong, and lasted until Hrubín’s death in 1971.

Ve snu vstupuje básník do své klece s ptáky... Zpráva o osobní pozůstalosti Zbyňka Havlíčka ve sbírkách LA PNP

Author(s): Hana Taudyová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 46/2014

„Stále je na cestě smrt, ponurý anděl“ (K. H. Waggerl) Zpráva o osobní pozůstalosti Jana Franze ve sbírkách LA PNP

Author(s): Hana Taudyová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 46/2014

Nad literární pozůstalostí Ivana Blatného

Author(s): Jarmila Schreiberová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 46/2014

RECIKLAŽA STAROG I NAGOVEŠTAJ NOVOG ILITI, SKICA SLIKE SAVREMENA ČEŠKE PROZE UZ OVAJ IZBOR

Author(s): Aleksandra Korda-Petrović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 439/2006

Pogled „spolja” i „iznutra” se ponekada dosta razlikuju, svaki od njih ima svoje prednosti, ali i ograničenosti. Kompletna slika stiče se tek ukupnim sagledavanjem pojava. To se odnosi i na pokušaj skiciranja celokupne književne produkcije neke strane književnosti. U tom slučaju kompletna slika je dodatno „zamagljena” selektivnom recepcijom dela stranih autora u domaćoj sredini. Tako se zadatak kratkog i preglednog prikaza savremene češke književne scene, kao i pokušaj sastavljanja izbora iz savremene češke proze, svodi na kompromisnu i u velikoj meri subjektivnu sliku pojedinca.

Zapomenutá Šípková Růženka

Author(s): Renata Ferklová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 48/2016

In this article the author considers a theatre play, A Forgotten Sleeping Beauty, by the Czech novelist and poet František Hrubín (1910–1971). It was written for children, and based on the classic fairy tale Snow White. The play opened in 1950 and was very popular, particularly amongst amateur children’s theatre companies. The author puts this play into the context of other works by Hrubín, particularly the play, Sněhurka, zvířátka a sedm mužíčků (Snow White with little animals and little people), from 1948, and mainly into the context of the totalitarian Communist policy on the arts in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She seeks to demonstrate that the destructive pressure of totalitarianism, despite what is often said now, was clearly merciless even towards children’s literature. She casts light on Hrubín’s diiculties not only in making and staging this work, but also in getting it published, and she documents the tendencies in the years of the Communist monopoly of power in the 1950s and 1960s. With her analysis of contemporary criticism, she describes the demands put on writers to relect the ideology of class war in the building of a ‘new’, socialist society and in the education of the ‘new’ man and ‘new’ woman, and the extent to which, and how, fairy tales for the stage were received both by critics and by audiences of children. The article is based primarily on the author’s research using surviving copies of the texts of both plays, period criticism, and correspondence in the František Hrubín Papers in the Literature Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature, Prague.

Dětská literatura a problém kýče

Author(s): Olga Kubeczková / Language(s): Czech Issue: 48/2016

The question of kitsch concerns all areas of art, including literature for children and young adults. The exploration of the forms of kitsch in this literature merits particular attention for several reasons. It is not possible, however, simply to apply aesthetics theories of kitsch to it, because aesthetic communication with a child perceiver has its own special features, including the recipient’s immaturity and lack of experience with art and the category of beauty in general. The author of the article bases her discussion on Tomáš Kulka’s important essay on kitsch (apart from a formulation of basic aesthetic categories), and adds speciic examples from research on literature for children and young adults. She considers this literature in the broader context of books for children, looking at kitsch not only in literature but also in illustration, because children too perceive an artistic statement as a whole. In addition to her attempt to formulate in theory at least some of the typical features of kitsch in books for children, the author briely analyses selected areas, including well-known brands, fairy tales, poetry, and tried and tested titles. She concludes that she has only scratched the surface of such research, and that more thorough research has yet to be done. She also notes the seriousness and importance of this area of research, which has a considerably inluenced the youngest generation’s attitude to art and beauty. Kitsch is ubiquitous, and can hardly be avoided. The most important thing is the approach taken by adults, and how successful they are in forming the personalities of children in their attitude to high-quality works of art.

Zprávy z literárního archivu

Author(s): Petr Kotyk,Helena Šebestová,Hana Taudyová,Jan Bílek,Lukáš Prokop,Růžena Hamanová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 48/2016

Obrazová příloha III

Author(s): / Language(s): Czech Issue: 48/2016

IVAN KLIMA REPOND AUX QUESTIONS DE JIRI LEDERER

Author(s): Ivan Klíma,Jiři Lederer / Language(s): French Issue: 15/1978

Interview

Labirynt żywych i umarłych. Mitologizacja przestrzeni Cmentarza Olszańskiego w trylogii Tryznivé město Danieli Hodrovej

Author(s): Zuzanna Woszczerowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2023

This article is devoted to the issue of the mythologisation of the space of Olšany Cemetery performed by Daniela Hodrová in her trilogy Trýznivé město (City of Torment). The article consists of two parts: the first one is a theoretical introduction about the concepts of myth, cemetery and maze, and the cultural connection between them. The second part contains an analysis of Olšany Cemetery as presented in the trilogy. Hodrová depicts the cemetery as a kind of mythical space which has the nature of a maze, where the living and the dead both share the fate of being prisoners.

Poezie Václava Hanky na pozadí lidových písní sebraných jeho otcem

Author(s): Petr Nejedlý / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2024

The writer, translator, Slavist and museum curator Václav Hanka (1791–1861) was, among other things, the author of many poems that are usually evaluated as a more or less successful echoes of folk poetry. We can confront the degree of their “folkiness” with the texts in the collection of folk songs that his father acquired for his own use. This collection represents in itself a remarkable document of contemporary private collecting carried out without higher artistic or scientific ambitions. If we compare Hanka’s poems with the folklore texts in his father’s collection, we can see that the poet appropriately used many of the structural elements of the text that are characteristic of a folk song. Nevertheless, Hanka’s poems remained in their essence entirely in the field of literary creation. This is all the more true if we realise how vague and practically indeterminate the contemporary understanding of folklore was.

’Gypsies’, Natural Monogamy, and Violence Full of Love: Anthropomorphism as a Constitutive Element of the Construction of Non-human Subjectivity in Modern Central European Travel Narratives

Author(s): Josef Řičář / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

The paper examines modern knowledge about non-human primates in Czech travel narratives concerning Africa and biological journals from the late nineteenth century to the end of the interwar period. Particular attention is given to the way discourse on primates and anthropological discourse mutually influenced each other. Inspired by the intersection of human – animal studies, critical race theory, and gender studies, the paper emphasizes the anthropomorphizing character of biological discourse and popular travel narratives. At the time, presentations of primates created a specific anthropological resource and, in addition, helped to naturalize the dominant racial and gender ideologies. In the context of the Austrian–Hungarian and Czechoslovakian relative inability to obtain colonial possessions in the way western powers did, the representations of anthropomorphized non-human primates can also be interpreted as a specific field where Czech colonial fantasies about dominance were expressed.

Secretaries of the Invisible: Post-imperial Literature – Translatio Imperii in Kafka and Coetzee. By Vladimir Biti.

Author(s): Máté Székely / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

Post-imperial Literature – Translatio Imperii in Kafka and Coetzee. By Vladimir Biti. Berlin–Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. 270 pp.

Fateful Periods: Routinisation of a Wittenberg Chronological and Eschatological Concept within Bohemian University Humanism (c. 1550–1620)

Author(s): Lucie Storchová / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The article deals with ways in which one of the most important chronological tools of Lutheran historical writing and eschatology—the “fateful periods” that were based on Daniel’s prophecy and predicted originally the demise of the Holy Roman Empire and the End of the World—was modified when it spread from Wittenberg to the University of Prague. The study does not seek to illustrate the importance of apocalyptic imagination by adding further examples of Central European provenance; rather, its goal is to demonstrate how eschatological discourses became absorbed into scholarly material, how they were rewritten and reapplied in individual humanist texts and, particularly, how their meanings and functions changed in the process of cultural exchange. Calculations based on “fateful periods” of 500 or 250 years were made part of the ordinary curriculum of the University of Prague and became one of the basic intellectual themes employed by non-theologians in various subjects, for example in different historical narratives, strategies for seeking patronage or as a tool for producing a community and shared identity among humanist scholars.